


The Dungeon

by MagicMage



Category: Original Work
Genre: Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-10
Updated: 2018-02-10
Packaged: 2019-03-16 02:54:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 992
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13627083
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MagicMage/pseuds/MagicMage





	The Dungeon

I look up, suddenly surrounded by four other people. We are in a dark stone hallway, with a glowing pedestal behind us. There are torches hanging from sconces on the wall, but the fires don’t seem to create any extra light. It is impossible to see very far down the hallway. Somewhere water is dripping. There is moss growing in-between some of the stones on the walls and floors.

 

Each person has a vastly different appearance from the others. One, a tiny creature with cat ears and a matching tail, totes a sword that appears to be at least seven sizes larger than his frame. Another, an angry looking, well-defined woman, with impossibly long hair and an incredibly offensive outfit, carries a pair of sharp-looking knives. There is an elven man leaning against the wall, a stave held ready in his hand. The last, a ridiculously tall, cartoonishly muscled man with walrus-like teeth, wields a massive shield and a short sword.

 

Without so much as greeting each other, we turn to head down the hallway. The walrus-man takes the lead, followed shortly by the cat-creature and the angry woman. The elven man and I take up the rear.

 

Clearly we’ve all been here before, as none of us seems confused as to which direction we are supposed to be heading in. We move past several openings that lead into different rooms or other hallways, ignoring the beastly creatures that lurk down each. As we trek though the labyrinth we pick off the creatures that we meet in our trek. Our silence is filled by the cry of the air being cut by the swing of a sword, the clink of metal on metal from knives meeting steel armour, grunts as a massive shield is hefted about, and the screeches of pain from creatures being set on fire by fireballs thrown their way.

 

The sound of our feet hitting the ground silences as we come to a stop at the end of the hallway. There is a set of large wooden doors, trimmed with gold and taller than any of our heads.

 

Yes, even taller than the ridiculously tall walrus-man.

 

The door is protected by a pair of large humanoid creatures, tall, lanky, and grey. Humanoid, but certainly not human, they have soulless white eyes, gaping mouths, and sharply clawed hands.

 

Walrus-man acts first, running in with a battle cry not unlike a lion’s roar. The tiny cat-creature runs in beside him, swinging his sword over his head as if it weighs nothing. The angry woman slinks in behind the humanoid creatures to hit them from behind. The elven man begins to mutter incantations under his breath. I rub my hands together and throw hot balls of fire and frigid ice spikes at the creatures.

 

Quickly the creatures are vanquished, and the hallway falls into silence again. Then the doors creak open, the sound of their long unopened hinges creaking is so loud that I’m certain it can be heard elsewhere.

 

Our group runs forward into the room that has opened before us. Inside is an enormous red dragon, its tail swinging agitatedly as if it has been waiting for us this entire time. The roof is higher than the hallway was. A skylight up above gives the room more light. There are two rows of pillars holding up the ceiling, each wrapped thickly in vines and moss.

 

The dragon eyes us angrily. There is a large chest at the back wall of the room, our prize.

 

Walrus-man screams his battle cry and rushes forward to engage the dragon as the cat-creature and the angry woman rush after him with their weapons drawn. I begin to cast my most complex spell. A meteor falls from the sky and strikes the dragon. It screams in agony and lashes out with a large, thick, red leg. It strikes the angry woman and she flies across the room, striking a pillar and falling to the ground. She doesn’t get back up. I summon a blizzard over the dragon, and it howls as the cat-creature attacks its flank. The elven man turns to the angry woman wordlessly and raises his hands above his head. A white light appears from the sky, and the angry woman is returned to her feet, good as new. She yells angrily and dives back into the fray.

 

The battle stretches on. The angry-woman is revived a few more times and at one point the elven man has to revive the walrus-man as well after he is bit practically in half by the dragon. By the end of it, I’m pretty certain that the cat-creature is invincible.

 

Finally, with one last fireball and one last strike from the cat-creature, the dragon screams and falls to the ground, defeated.

 

The dragon combusts, appearing to burn away before our eyes and disappearing completely. We step towards the chest at the back of the room, nodding at each other in congratulations. The chest pops open, and several items fall from it onto the ground.

 

The elven man gets a scroll, the cat-creature gets an even _bigger_ sword, the walrus-man picks up some crafting materials, the angry woman gets a new outfit that may be even more offensive than the first. I get a pointy hat.

 

The chest disappears and a glowing pedestal appears in its place. I watch as the others each touch the pedestal in turn and disappear before touching the pedestal myself. When I open my eyes again I am standing in town, in front of a fountain.

 

Darn, I really wanted the wizard’s staff.

 

I push the ‘ESC’ key on my keyboard and the options menu pops up. With a sigh I click the “Logout” button and watch as the game window closes.

 

5 a.m., my desktop clock tells me.

 

5 a.m., the sun starting to come up outside my window agrees.

 

Time for bed. I’ll run the dungeon again tomorrow.


End file.
